1,579 research outputs found
The backward {\lambda}-Lemma and Morse filtrations
Consider the infinite dimensional hyperbolic dynamical system provided by the
(forward) heat semi-flow on the loop space of a closed Riemannian manifold M.
We use the recently discovered backward {\lambda}-Lemma and elements of Conley
theory to construct a Morse filtration of the loop space whose cellular
filtration complex represents the Morse complex associated to the downward
L2-gradient of the classical action functional. This paper is a survey. Details
and proofs will be given in [6].Comment: Conference proceedings, 9 pages, 5 figures. v2: typos corrected,
minor modification
Discrete conformal maps and ideal hyperbolic polyhedra
We establish a connection between two previously unrelated topics: a
particular discrete version of conformal geometry for triangulated surfaces,
and the geometry of ideal polyhedra in hyperbolic three-space. Two triangulated
surfaces are considered discretely conformally equivalent if the edge lengths
are related by scale factors associated with the vertices. This simple
definition leads to a surprisingly rich theory featuring M\"obius invariance,
the definition of discrete conformal maps as circumcircle preserving piecewise
projective maps, and two variational principles. We show how literally the same
theory can be reinterpreted to addresses the problem of constructing an ideal
hyperbolic polyhedron with prescribed intrinsic metric. This synthesis enables
us to derive a companion theory of discrete conformal maps for hyperbolic
triangulations. It also shows how the definitions of discrete conformality
considered here are closely related to the established definition of discrete
conformality in terms of circle packings.Comment: 62 pages, 22 figures. v2: typos corrected, references added and
updated, minor changes in exposition. v3, final version: typos corrected,
improved exposition, some material moved to appendice
Geometry of Universal Magnification Invariants
Recent work in gravitational lensing and catastrophe theory has shown that
the sum of the signed magnifications of images near folds, cusps and also
higher catastrophes is zero. Here, it is discussed how Lefschetz fixed point
theory can be used to interpret this result geometrically. It is shown for the
generic case as well as for elliptic and hyperbolic umbilics in gravitational
lensing.Comment: RevTEX4, 13 pages, submitted to J. Math. Phy
Morse homology for the heat flow
We use the heat flow on the loop space of a closed Riemannian manifold to
construct an algebraic chain complex. The chain groups are generated by
perturbed closed geodesics. The boundary operator is defined in the spirit of
Floer theory by counting, modulo time shift, heat flow trajectories that
converge asymptotically to nondegenerate closed geodesics of Morse index
difference one.Comment: 89 pages, 3 figure
Compactification, topology change and surgery theory
We study the process of compactification as a topology change. It is shown
how the mediating spacetime topology, or cobordism, may be simplified through
surgery. Within the causal Lorentzian approach to quantum gravity, it is shown
that any topology change in dimensions may be achieved via a causally
continuous cobordism. This extends the known result for 4 dimensions.
Therefore, there is no selection rule for compactification at the level of
causal continuity. Theorems from surgery theory and handle theory are seen to
be very relevant for understanding topology change in higher dimensions.
Compactification via parallelisable cobordisms is particularly amenable to
study with these tools.Comment: 1+19 pages. LaTeX. 9 associated eps files. Discussion of disconnected
case adde
A Svarc-Milnor lemma for monoids acting by isometric embeddings
We continue our programme of extending key techniques from geometric group
theory to semigroup theory, by studying monoids acting by isometric embeddings
on spaces equipped with asymmetric, partially-defined distance functions. The
canonical example of such an action is a cancellative monoid acting by
translation on its Cayley graph. Our main result is an extension of the
Svarc-Milnor Lemma to this setting.Comment: 11 page
Quantum Degenerate Systems
Degenerate dynamical systems are characterized by symplectic structures whose
rank is not constant throughout phase space. Their phase spaces are divided
into causally disconnected, nonoverlapping regions such that there are no
classical orbits connecting two different regions. Here the question of whether
this classical disconnectedness survives quantization is addressed. Our
conclusion is that in irreducible degenerate systems --in which the degeneracy
cannot be eliminated by redefining variables in the action--, the
disconnectedness is maintained in the quantum theory: there is no quantum
tunnelling across degeneracy surfaces. This shows that the degeneracy surfaces
are boundaries separating distinct physical systems, not only classically, but
in the quantum realm as well. The relevance of this feature for gravitation and
Chern-Simons theories in higher dimensions cannot be overstated.Comment: 18 pages, no figure
A two-cocycle on the group of symplectic diffeomorphisms
We investigate a two-cocycle on the group of symplectic diffeomorphisms of an
exact symplectic manifolds defined by Ismagilov, Losik, and Michor and
investigate its properties. We provide both vanishing and non-vanishing results
and applications to foliated symplectic bundles and to Hamiltonian actions of
finitely generated groups.Comment: 16 pages, no figure
Thurston equivalence of topological polynomials
We answer Hubbard's question on determining the Thurston equivalence class of
``twisted rabbits'', i.e. images of the ``rabbit'' polynomial under n-th powers
of the Dehn twists about its ears.
The answer is expressed in terms of the 4-adic expansion of n. We also answer
the equivalent question for the other two families of degree-2 topological
polynomials with three post-critical points.
In the process, we rephrase the questions in group-theoretical language, in
terms of wreath recursions.Comment: 40 pages, lots of figure
Space-Time Complexity in Hamiltonian Dynamics
New notions of the complexity function C(epsilon;t,s) and entropy function
S(epsilon;t,s) are introduced to describe systems with nonzero or zero Lyapunov
exponents or systems that exhibit strong intermittent behavior with
``flights'', trappings, weak mixing, etc. The important part of the new notions
is the first appearance of epsilon-separation of initially close trajectories.
The complexity function is similar to the propagator p(t0,x0;t,x) with a
replacement of x by the natural lengths s of trajectories, and its introduction
does not assume of the space-time independence in the process of evolution of
the system. A special stress is done on the choice of variables and the
replacement t by eta=ln(t), s by xi=ln(s) makes it possible to consider
time-algebraic and space-algebraic complexity and some mixed cases. It is shown
that for typical cases the entropy function S(epsilon;xi,eta) possesses
invariants (alpha,beta) that describe the fractal dimensions of the space-time
structures of trajectories. The invariants (alpha,beta) can be linked to the
transport properties of the system, from one side, and to the Riemann
invariants for simple waves, from the other side. This analog provides a new
meaning for the transport exponent mu that can be considered as the speed of a
Riemann wave in the log-phase space of the log-space-time variables. Some other
applications of new notions are considered and numerical examples are
presented.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure
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